Toshiyuki Kita

1942 Osaka



Der japanische designer Toshiyuki Kita was born in Osaka in 1942. Toshiyuki Kita's designs loften link elements of European styles with others derived from Japanese culture. Until 1964 he studied studied industrial design at Naniwa College in Osaka. In 1967 Toshiyuki Kita opened a design practice there. In 1969 Toshiyuki Kita went to Milan, where he worked in the studios of Mario Bellini and Silvio Coppola. In 1971 Toshiyuki Kita opened a branch office of his practice in Milan and from then on commuted between Japan and Italy.
One of Toshiyuki Kita's best known designs is "Wink" (1980), somewhere between an armchair and a bed, for Cassina. This piece of seat furniture is variable; the foot can be opened out to transform the chair into a bed without legs set directly on the floor. In 1984 Toshiyuki Kita designed the "Kick" table, which, like the "Wink" before it, was acquired for the design collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
With the artist Keith Haring, Toshiyuki Kita designed the "On Taro" and "On Giro" lamps for Kreon in 1988. The following year, in 1989, Toshiyuki Kita designed a multifunctional room for the Sony headquarters in Tokyo. For the Expo '92 in Seville, Toshiyuki Kita designed the chairs for the Japanese Pavilion and the entire interior of the revolving theater. Toshiyuki Kita designs furniture, tableware, and lighting for the Japanese firms Koshudo, Johoku Mokko, and Yamagiwa and, in Europe, Bernini, Cassina, de Padova, Disegno Due, Kreon, Tecnolumen, Wittmann, and Interprofil.
Toshiyuki Kita alo teaches industrial design at universities in Malaysia and Singapore.